Morning journal and courier., 1887-12-30

the testimony of the ancients as to this par
 ticular accomplishment is very strong. Pos sibly the funambulism of elephants is one of the lost arts of antiquity. Writing also is an accomplishment which we fear the animal no longer acquires. Mucianus, the friend of
 Vespasisn, knew of an animal which could
 write Greek hexameter, not, however, out of it's own head; and we have pathetic sto- rv of one which, having been beaten for be- ing somewhat backward in it's reading-for the elephants own the human trait of having dunces among them-was found diligently coming its task by night. It was, however, in sterner character than that of dancer or scholar that antiquity best knew the e1e- phant. He was a most formidable imple- ment of war. The Carthaginians were the first so to utilize him in European warfare, and it is a remarkable fact that they, and they only, have been able to educate the Af- rican species of the race for human uses. It may be doubted, indeed, whether the militia ry utility of the animal compensated for the enormous expense and trouble which he must have caused. If Hannibal had not lost all his elephants but one almost before he began his campaigns, he would certainly have found it impossible to feed them. Their use, indeed in western warfare has not been frequent. One of the latest occasions of their employment seems to- have been by the Emperor Claudius, when he invaded Britain in the third year of his reign. They are still found, but for show rather than use, in the military establishments of the East. But it is clear that they could not exist in the face of arms of precision.
 The practical utility of the elephant for peaceful purposes is great. Alone among an- imals he may to certain extent be trusted
 to labor by himself and without supervision,
 while his capacity as beast of burden is such as to counterbalance the great expense
 of his keep. But it is his mental and moral
 development that, for our present purpose of
 Writing, most interest us; and here, if the
 modern accounts can scarcely rival the old,
 they are still sufficiently surprising. MT. An
 drew Wilson, in his admirable ''Studies of
 Life and Sense," tells some very curious
 things indeed. The highly developed sagae1-
 ty of the animal may, he remarks, be partly
 due to the long life and consequently varied
 experience of the individual animal; but on
 the other hand there is the adverse influence
 of the fact that there can be little or no he
 reality in it's requirements. The dog has the inheritance of many generations. The ele-
 phant learns everything for himself, and should be as much at a di dvantage as 8 New Guinea negro matched with the de- scendant of a line of cultivated Europeans or Americans. Under these circumstances every anecdote of his sagacity acquires & multiplied significance. The story which MT. Wilson tells of Lizzie, an elephant be- longing to Wombwell's menagerie is very striking. In 1874 the menagerie visited Ten
 bury, and Lizzie, who had drunk quantity of cold water when heated by walking (just as human might have done), was attacked by spasms and treated by Mir. Hurley, local chemist. He applied a large blister to the side and relieved the pain. Five years after ward the menagerie came round again, and Lizzie recognized her medical adviser as he stood in the shop door, stepped out of the l ranks, and greeted him by placing her trunk
 round his hand. She even drew his atten- ! tion to the side where the blister had been applied. Two years afterward the menagerie 1 came again. This time "Lizzien lifted her friend in gentle manner from the ground She had, it seemed, been led to form a still higher opinion of his merits as a doctor, and ! even generally to prefer physic to surg gery. l A veterinary surgeon had heen called in to 1 prescribe for another ailment and had used the lancet. Accordingly she drew Mir. Tur- l ley's attention to the limb which had been laneed, and did her best to show how much she preferred his milder treatment The in- depreciation of Mistress Lizzie's mental pro- cesses is delicious.